A new Pipeline website
from Valve details a program being operated by the Bellevue, Washington-based
developer to explore video game development possibilities for teenage developers
with none of the real-world experience they emphasize when hiring their staff.
The site features a video
introducing the concept and a FAQ that says the expect to present some of the
promised information on the topic "within the next month or so," and offers the
following outline of what this is all about:

There are two main reasons
that Valve is creating Pipeline. The first is that we are frequently asked
questions by teenagers about the videogame industry. "What is it like to work on
videogames? What should I study? What colleges are best for preparing me? How do
I get a job in videogames?" Pipeline will be a place where those questions can
be discussed. The second is that Valve is running an experiment. Traditionally
Valve has been a very good place for very experienced videogame developers, and
not so good at teaching people straight out of school (the reasons for this and
the tradeoffs are covered in the Valve employee handbook). Pipeline is an
experiment to see if we can take a group of high school students with minimal
work experience and train them in the skills and methods necessary to be
successful at a company like Valve.

NKD wrote on Jul 15, 2013, 13:39:Valve is the best adult daycare that exists.

About the only thing they are doing nowadays... where is Half-Life 3? Or where is something unique from Valve? Seems all they do nowadays is pet their money trees and remake stuff. Dota remake, CS remake ....

Seriously, without Steam, there would not be a Valve. And if a game developer is more famous for selling other peoples games than their own games then something is amiss.

MrBone wrote on Jul 15, 2013, 12:59:What college? You learn to code well by studying the work of great coders. I would suggest getting into a github project and contributing towards it, etc. It is a great way to learn the craft and work in a team environment.

Studying code can be very helpful, no doubt, but in my opinion the more important source of growth is actually coding. If you want to get better at something, DO IT. A lot. Make an active effort to get better at it. Experiment. Refine. Reflect. Evolve. The relentless pursuit of perfection... it comes from within. Studying the works of others is important but it's only one piece of the puzzle.

MrBone wrote on Jul 15, 2013, 12:59:What college? You learn to code well by studying the work of great coders. I would suggest getting into a github project and contributing towards it, etc. It is a great way to learn the craft and work in a team environment.

A great deal of colleges offer game development courses, in addition to the billions that offer more standard CS departments.

Are these worthwhile?Well, it's hard to say without a program like this, right? Some likely have some worth, more likely have no worth.

While I agree that github and teaching yourself is a great way, it's not as good for someone that knows absolutely nothing, and it doesn't teach you working on a team under one roof, which is a different dynamic. These are the two areas a college course could really outpace self teaching.

"Could." I'd doubt most achieve parity, though some likely do. By and large college should be a way to exchange money for a jump start for those that don't even know where to begin, and a way to exchange money for rigor/process/self-constraint, but I also imagine it most courses fail at much of that.

What college? You learn to code well by studying the work of great coders. I would suggest getting into a github project and contributing towards it, etc. It is a great way to learn the craft and work in a team environment.

Valve's Young Developer Pipeline: Come to Valve and get a desk with WHEELS!!! Do whatever you feel interested in (okay, at least design a hat for TF2 within ten years), and if you finish a game (or TWO hats!) before you reach 60, you'll receive a bonus. Welcome to the Valve time continuum! YAY!